1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an optical disk drive assembly, more particularly to an optical disk drive assembly having a control panel mounted movably thereon.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that notebook personal computers (PC) are equipped with optical disk drives, such as compact disk read-only-memory (CD-ROM) and digital versatile disk read-only-memory (DVD-ROM), for listening to music and watching video programs. However, the control keys for manipulation of the optical disk drives are liable to be depressed unintentionally when the optical disk drives are in use, thereby resulting in misoperation of the optical disk drives. In addition, the control keys of the optical drive disks occupy precious space on the keyboards of notebook PCs when the optical disk drives are not in use.
The object of the present invention is to provide an optical disk drive assembly in which the control keys for manipulation of an optical disk drive of the optical disk drive assembly will not be depressed unintentionally when the optical disk drive assembly is in use.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an optical disk drive assembly that will not occupy space on the keyboard of a notebook PC.
According to the present invention, the optical disk drive assembly comprises a hollow housing, an optical disk drive, and a control panel. The hollow housing has a bottom wall, and a front opening formed adjacent to a front end of the bottom wall. The optical disk drive is mounted inside the hollow housing. The optical disk drive is spaced apart from and is disposed above the bottom wall. The control panel is movably disposed between the optical disk drive and the bottom wall of the hollow housing. The control panel has a plurality of control keys connected electrically to the optical disk drive for manipulation of the optical disk drive. The control panel is mounted pivotally inside the hollow housing about a pivot axle that is perpendicular to the bottom wall for movement between an inward position where the control panel is received between the optical disk drive and the bottom wall to conceal the control keys under the optical disk drive, and an outward position where the control panel protrudes out of the front opening of the hollow housing to expose the control keys.
In the preferred embodiment, the optical disk drive assembly further has a locking mechanism for locking releaseably the control panel in the inward position, and a spring member for biasing the control panel to move from the inward position to the outward position when the control panel is released from the locking mechanism. The control panel is formed as a sector member having an arcuate side, an apex portion opposed to the arcuate side, and first and second radial sides that interconnect the arcuate side and the apex portion. The pivot axle extends downwardly from the apex portion of the sector member. The control keys are disposed adjacent to and along the first radial side of the sector member.
The hollow housing further has opposite first and second side walls extending upwardly from two opposite sides of the bottom wall and extending rearwardly from the front end of the bottom wall. The bottom wall has a top face, and an upright sleeve member projecting from the top face of the bottom wall adjacent to the first side wall and the front end of the bottom wall. The pivot axle is inserted into the upright sleeve member to connect pivotally the control panel to the hollow housing.
The locking mechanism includes a notch formed in the arcuate side adjacent to the first radial side of the sector member, and a spring-biased locking pin member disposed on the top face of the bottom wall adjacent to the second side wall and the front end of the bottom wall. The locking pin member is movable in a lateral direction substantially transverse to a front-to-rear direction of the hollow housing between a locking position wherein the locking pin member engages the notch when the control panel turns to the inward position, and an unlocking position wherein the locking pin member disengages from the notch.
Preferably, the control panel further has a stop member projecting radially from an intermediate portion of the arcuate side and distal from the notch. The stop member abuts against the locking pin member to limit movement of the control panel when the control panel turns to the outward position.